Machad Mamangam (

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

: മച്ചാട് മാമാങ്കം) also known as Machad Kuthira Vela or Thiruvanikkavu Kuthira vela is a temple festival celebrated at Thiruvanikkavu temple near Wadakkancherry in

Thrissur District Thrissur (), anglicised as Trichur, is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is situated in the central region of the state. Spanning an area of about , th ...

. The festival is organised by five desams (Villages) in a competitive way. Karumathra, Viruppakka, Mangalam, Parlikadu and Manalithara are the 5 main participants of the festival.

Thekkumkara Thekkumkara is a village in Thrissur district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population in ...

, Punnamparambu, and Panangattukara are desams who take initiative in conducting pooram once in every three years. The festival starts with a parapurappadu on first Friday of Kumbham according to

Malayalam calendar The Malayalam Calendar, or the Kollam Era (), is a sidereal solar calendar used in Kerala. The origin of the calendar has been dated to 825 CE, commemorating the establishment of Kollam. There are many theories regarding the origin of t ...

. On the coming Tuesday the real festival vela is celebrated with wooden horses made by different desams. According to the legend the king of ruling that area wished to conduct the festival by live horses as a competition towards the elephant festival Uthralikkavu Pooram, but due to the lack of horses in Kerala and inability to domesticate horses he abandoned that wish and started celebrating with artificial horses.

References

{{Tourism in Kerala Hindu festivals in Kerala Festivals in Thrissur district February observances